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The Secular Coalition for America is a lobbying group representing atheists, secular humanists, and freethinkers in American politics. It is currently represented in Washington, D.C. by former Nevada state senator Lori Lipman Brown, who became its first full-time executive director in September of 2005.

The SCA is the first lobbying organization in the United States that works to increase the visibility and respectability of nontheistic viewpoints in the United States and to protect and strengthen the secular character of the U.S. government. The SCA advocates that American politics espouse the complete separation of church and state as called for in the U.S. Constitution. The SCA holds reason and science as its guiding tenets for public policy.

History

The SCA was founded in 2002 as a coalition of four U.S. secular organizations: Atheist Alliance International, the Institute for Humanist Studies, the Secular Student Alliance, and the Secular Web. In 2005 the American Humanist Association became the coalition's fifth member organization. The Society for Humanistic Judaism and the Freedom From Religion Foundation joined the SCA coalition in January of 2006. In February of 2007, the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers joined the SCA coalition.

Criticism

Some argue that organizations like Secular Coalition for America promote censorship of religion and are bigoted in their views and political expressions.

Some claim that the United States is a Christian nation, rooted in Christian principles. It was founded largely by Deists, and not evangelicals. Most of the founding fathers came from Deist backgrounds. None were of Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, or evangelical Christian backgrounds. Where a majority would dominate the whole, a Deist version of Christianity might have prevailed, but the new United States was founded as a republic, not a democracy. In a constitutional republic, the liberties of all, even the smallest minority, are protected.

There are many reasons for the stigmatization of atheists in America. One is that their views and actions are easily perceived as religious bigotry. Another reason is that some fundamentalists perceive advocacy of a separation of Church and State as excessive, even draconian as some would describe, and most importantly, unconstitutional. It protects free speech and freedom of religion; the US Constitution promotes religious equality and neutrality - not censorship.

Finally, it has been proven that although there are some millions of atheists in the United States, most of them come from Christian backgrounds and would still celebrate and appreciate their Christian heritage. This is why so many are opposed to the alleged complete censorship and oppression of Christian, religious activity in this country which some fundamentalists claim to exist.

Lori Lipman Brown, President of SCA, stated the following in response to the House Committee's decision to increase funds for Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage programs: We support comprehensive sex education programs that are developed by professional educators -- not "abstinence only until marriage" programs which are developed by individuals who put theology above education.

According to comprehensive studies and statistics, it has been asserted there has been a correlation between said programs and lower unwanted teen pregnancies as well as sexually transmitted diseases. If these kinds of programs are clearly scientifically merited, that will need to be demonstrated by independent scientific studies, not by religiously-motivated allegations.

External links

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 Some argue that organizations like [[Secular Coalition for America]] promote censorship of religion and are bigoted in their views and political expressions.
-Some claim that the United States is a Christian nation, rooted in Christian principles. It was founded largely by Deists, and not evangelicals. Most of the founding fathers came from Deist backgrounds. None were of Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, or even Buddhist backgrounds. Where a majority would dominate the whole, a Deist version of Christianity might have prevailed, but the new United States was founded as a republic, not a democracy. In a constitutional republic, the liberties of all, even the smallest minority, are protected.
+Some claim that the United States is a Christian nation, rooted in Christian principles. It was founded largely by Deists, and not evangelicals. Most of the founding fathers came from Deist backgrounds. None were of Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, or evangelical Christian backgrounds. Where a majority would dominate the whole, a Deist version of Christianity might have prevailed, but the new United States was founded as a republic, not a democracy. In a constitutional republic, the liberties of all, even the smallest minority, are protected.
 There are many reasons for the stigmatization of atheists in America. One is that their views and actions are easily perceived as religious bigotry. Another reason is that some fundamentalists perceive advocacy of a separation of Church and State as excessive, even draconian as some would describe, and most importantly, unconstitutional. It protects free speech and freedom of religion; the US Constitution promotes religious equality and neutrality - not censorship.